Running tc from remote directory doesn't work?

emailconfimisbroken

I tried running an .inp file like this (Windows 10, Topas 6.1):

tc foo

It tells me that it can't find "rttem9.dxx", which I discovered is a file in the installation directory of TOPAS. So I copied that file to my current folder, ran the same command again and looked what happened.

The files that it demanded, bit by bit, were different .inc files, which are all located in the root directory of TOPAS.

So it seems that if I run tc from a remote directory that isn't the TOPAS directory, it won't be able to find all the program data necessary to run TOPAS.

I've added the Topas dir to the system path variable and tc responds, but it seems like it can't find these files from the location that I am running the command.

Is this normal? Do I have to copy my files to C:\Topas6 each time I want to run one of my .inp files? Did I do something wrong which causes it to not find it's own files?

EDIT: Does it matter if TOPAS is installed on drive C:\ and the folder is on a partition E:\?
The paths look like this

C:\Topas-6
E:\my\folder\path

Idk if that influences anything...

EDIT2: So copying everything to the C:\ drive changes nothing. Do I really have to run my inp files inside the Topas root directory?

So I guess my real question is the following:
Why does tc look for the TOPAS program files at the location where the command is executed and not at the location where they're actually installed?

If I run the command:

tc foo
from the folder inps\measurement1.
It's gonna demand that the program files like rttem9.dxx will be at inps\measurement1\rttem9.dxx
Why would it assume that it's own program files are at the location the tc command is executed? I added it's folder to the system path variable, it should know where it's own program files are, right???

alan-coelho

Run tc.exe form the main TA directory.

emailconfimisbroken

alan-coelho
I have a python script that iterates over all inp files in the current folder it runs in. It calls

os.system('tc %s'%inp_file_path)
to run tc.exe from the current folder that the py script is in.

I don't understand why tc, even though it is part of the system path variable, doesn't understand where it's own program files like rttemp.dxx are located. Is it just me or is that weird?

Anyways, I guess what you're telling me is that I should run the script as follows.

python myscript.py

os.chdir(C:\Topas-6)
os.system('tc %s'%inp_file_path)

Where inp_file_path is the location of my inp file, which I could use an absolute path for like:

inp_file_path = os.path.abspath(inp_file_location)
?

mathiasmorch

I don't know if it helps, but i have a simple .cmd file that i use named : "Topas_Console_v7.cmd"

@echo on
cls
cd C:\Topas-7
set /p id="Enter Topas Input: "
tc %₁ %id%
pause

I added a shortcut to this .cmd file in the "Send To" folder:
C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
Named "Topas_Console_v7.cmd" placed in some folder, for example: C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\BatScripts

Which means i can:
Right click an .inp file
Send to
Topas_Console_v7.cmd

A Command Prompt window will open and you have the possibility to give some macro input, i think Alan has a description of this in the technical reference. It could just be "iters 100" or something like that.
Usually i have everything set up as i want in the .inp file though, so i just hit enter which starts the refinement.
I don't know if there's a speed difference between tc.exe and ta.exe with the graphics turned off though.

I have used this to run some sequential refinements with >10000 files where i keep the data and results on a network drive.

emailconfimisbroken

Small update: I got it to work. All I essentially did was just change directory temporarily to the topas dir and then call the command

tc my/path/to/foo

With that the output files landed in the same directory as my inp file. I still don't know if I just don't understand programming enough and therefore I think it is weird I have to change into the Topas dir when executing the tc command or if this is a possible improvement for the future of tc.

johnsoevans

Did you see the note in the other thread? You shouldn't need to chdir to the topas directory. You just need to give the full path of topas at the command prompt:

c:\whatever_directory_you_are_in> c:\topas6_directory\tc.exe filename.inp

We do essentially the same thing from within python scripts.

The chdir approach used to be needed, but many years ago. I guess it may be needed if you have a very old topas version. I forget exactly when the change happened.